


Snowbound

by SegaBarrett



Category: Bates Motel (2013)
Genre: AU season 3, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-18 18:13:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5938177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/pseuds/SegaBarrett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Intense weather brings together a girl who's running from something and a man who's looking for something; Caleb rescues an injured Annika.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Bates Motel, and I make no money from this.

The wind was at her back. She was running as quickly as she could, and she could see in her mind’s eye one of those scenes from horror movies where the girl was always running and then she would trip over something and go flying and then the bad man would come and then he would – 

But the bad man had already been here. Bob Paris had been here, and she was bleeding and everything was running and she’d gotten into her car and driven but she couldn’t see very well. Her eyes felt like they were bleeding too, but that didn’t make any sense.

Maybe if she knew where she was going, that would help. She’d only been here a few times before, and she certainly hadn’t had to go running in heels from a murderer before.

She felt so stupid, so helpless – if she could get back to her car, then she could drive, but she… that kid had taken her car back for her. So stupid, why… Why had she accepted that flash drive from Lindsay? Lindsay – Lindsay’s car. Maybe she could get to her car, if she still had the keys somewhere in her pocket.

She had to keep running. If she kept running, she could get away from him, could stay away.

In front of her, she noticed tiny little flecks of white, falling in front of her. Her dazed mind wondered if it was some sort of fluff or maybe salt, before the obvious answer hit her – it was snow. It was snowing.

Maybe that could help her, maybe – 

But before she could finish the thought, her legs collapsed under her and she felt her head collide with something hard. The last thing she remembered was looking up at the sky and noticing, matter-of-factly, that it had turned pitch black.

***

When she awoke, she was lying on a bed somewhere – no, not a bed exactly, but maybe a cot. A thin cot in a… she couldn’t figure out the rest.

Had Bob Paris caught up with her at last? Maybe his plan was to do some crazy torture stuff to her, James Bond style. 

Annika lifted one arm, expecting to find it strapped down. She almost fell off the cot when she pulled it up without any trouble – and let out an “ah!” of surprised.

Her sound brought, in turn, the sound of footsteps. She sat up, quickly, panting. Not another room, not another… Bob Paris had got her again, that had to be the answer. But how was she going to get out now? 

She put one uneasy foot to the floor of… she didn’t know what kind of building she was in, but there was light streaming ahead of her in little lines. She wondered where her shoes were – but maybe it was better to not have to try to run in heels. She’d cut up her feet on the ground, though, that much was sure. It would hurt. 

Annika let out a little whimper at that.

She felt so tired, but she had to get up and go, had to get up and run away. 

The door burst open, and she toppled back into the cot, letting out a scream. 

There was a man standing there in clothes that seemed a few sizes too big for him, topped off with a long, tan jacket. She had never seen him before. 

“Who are you?” she asked, looking around for a weapon.

“I found you… in the road…” he explained. His voice had an old slur to it, as if he had a propensity to forget what he was saying mid-sentence. 

Annika lifted a hand to where she had been bleeding before, and was surprised to feel something there, something closed up. It felt like stitches.

“You were shot,” the man said simply. “I took the bullet out. You were out like a light, though.”

“Why… why am I not at a hospital?”

The man proceeded to pull up the shade that was covering the window – Annika could now tell that she was in a large van of some sort, but not where it was parked – all she could see was a huge snowbank that blocked any other view.

“As soon as it clears up,” the man promised. “But I’ll have to drop you off and then take off ‘cause I can’t be in a hospital. I got a warrant.”

Annika shuddered, much as she didn’t want to. She wanted to be strong – but underneath any strong person was a little kid pleading to not be hurt; she knew this.

“Please,” she spoke up, “Whatever you want…I don’t know why you’re keeping me here… but if… it’s for… I don’t know. Just please let…”

“I won’t hurt you.” The man’s hand snaked out and took hers; he squeezed it gently. “What’s your name?”

“Annika Johnson,” she offered quietly, closing her eyes. Maybe this wasn’t… something bad, she considered. He didn’t know her name, maybe he hadn’t come from Bob Paris. Then again, Bob Paris didn’t care about their names – he only wanted himself surrounded by beautiful women, beautiful centerpieces at his table. And he was willing to kill them if they didn’t fall in line… that much was entirely clear. Which meant that if this man wasn’t working for Bob, then he might be the only chance she had to get out of this alive. “What’s… what’s yours?” Unless, she told herself, this was some kind of ransom. Maybe she shouldn’t be asking for his name, maybe she shouldn’t be trying to see his face. Yet all she could think about was how her chest ached, how her feet hurt, how she wanted to be curled up somewhere safe. She wondered if she still had the flash drive, if after all that running she had lost it somewhere. Maybe this man had it. It was seeming less and less important as her head filled with drowsiness.

“I’m Caleb,” the man said simply. “There’s a cabin in there… If you’re up to it, we can try and walk inside.”

She tried to raise her head, to ask a hundred more questions, but everything was fuzzy and warm and she was drifting through the clouds all over again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Aftermath of mutilation of a sexual nature.

Caleb watched curiously as the young woman slept – peacefully? – with her arms wrapped around her and entangled in the blanket he’d found in a closet in the cabin. 

He had hiked her shirt up a little to keep the material from brushing against the stitches, but it had felt voyeuristic in a way. This girl was frightened of him.

This girl was terrified of him and she had every right to be. They were here, though, stuck together until this snowstorm let up, or until Dylan found a way to make it back.

Until then, he would keep her safe. He had been out driving, picking things up downtown (even though Dylan had told him not to – why did he never listen?) when he had noticed the shadow on the road. He had hopped out and there had been a slim female form crumpled up. She had looked dead, she had looked…

His mind had been whispering, Norma, it’s Norma, even though she didn’t look a thing like her. 

He had been hit by a strange sense that it was wrong to leave her, better to bring her somewhere and bury her there, put her to rest.

Not that this had been something that had mattered to him before. He’d washed blood off his hands and left men in shallow graves or by the side of the road, and he had slept those nights. Not well, but he had slept.

Not her, though. Not this one.

He had gathered her up into his arms, cradled her easily, and that had been when he realized that she was breathing, that her heart was still beating.

The hospital was a good half-hour away. He had dragged her in the van and gotten to work.

And now she slept. What had she said her name was? _Annika._

***

It was another hour before the girl stirred. He had been sitting beside her, keeping an eye out to make sure – he hoped – she wouldn’t fade away. 

She began to cry in her sleep, first, then slowly opened her eyes into the darkness, letting out a gasp.

Caleb stood.

“Hey,” he called, keeping his voice quiet and low. “Annika.”

This time she didn’t thrash around, but she did look at him with wary, frightened eyes. The fight had gone out of her, but the fear remained.

He took a step closer.

“I won’t hurt you,” he promised. He reached down, ever so slowly, and took her hand in his.

“Hurts,” she whispered.

“I know.”

She raised her free hand and slowly waved it in front of where her blouse covered her left breast. 

“Hurts here.”

Caleb looked at her and widened his own eyes for a moment, then very slowly unbuttoned the sheer blouse and then the bra beneath it. 

There was a slash across Annika’s breast, just missing her nipple, not deep enough to bleed heavily but certainly deep enough to hurt. 

He rushed and returned with the stitches, looking down at her.

“This is going to hurt, okay? But I’m going to stitch it up. Want me to grab you some whiskey?”

Annika sat up and nodded.

“Whiskey. Please. I’d love some whiskey.”

***

“This isn’t usually the way a guy first sees my boobs,” Annika said, taking another swig of the bottle of Jack that Caleb had procured. 

“Is this hurting too much?” Caleb let the needle slip into her skin one last time. “I hope not. I haven’t really done this much before.”

There was a long pause; Annika wasn’t saying much, and Caleb looked back at her to make sure she was still among the living. She was, but her eyes looked a little glassy, though from blood-loss or drunkenness, he wasn’t sure.

“And we’re done,” Caleb said as he snipped off the end of the stitch. “You did good. You probably want to put that down now – you’re pretty thin, I’m not sure it takes that much you get you plastered.”

Annika attempted to replace the bottle with some difficulty; Caleb reached out and took it from her. 

“I think it’s time to rest.”

Annika looked down at her uncovered chest.

“Don’t you want to…?”

“You are drunk and injured,” Caleb told her. “I don’t have a lot of morals but… I’m working on it.” Nervously, he reached out and brushed a lock of hair out of her face. 

Annika began to shimmy back under the covers, but she mumbled, “’sokay though. It’s my job.”

“What?” Caleb inquired.

“You know. Look at me.” She smiled widely, tears forming in her eyes. “No one cares about me. I’m just a hooker. Y’know some guy out in… in Spokane was killing us right and left and you know what they labelled it? ‘NHI’. No Humans Involved, did you hear about that?”

Caleb hadn’t.

“Annika,” he cut in, moving to take her hand in his. “Get some rest. You’re going to be just fine. I definitely think you’re a human… and a very pretty one. So sleep, and if you still want all this in the morning, we’ll figure something out, all right?”

He watched as she moved over on her side and let her eyes slip shut, wrapping the duvet around her and shivering.

He’d have to find some clothes for her that weren’t going to be bloodstained.

Maybe Gunner had something hidden somewhere. 

“Sleep well,” he whispered, then lumbered around the cabin, looking every-which-where. What was he going to do? What was his actual plan in this situation? He would make sure she got through the night, that much he was determined, but what then? A hospital he couldn’t enter? Or drop her off at the motel he was banned from entering?

One thing was sure – someone was after this girl, and it was unlikely that they were planning to stop before they got her.

Caleb didn’t plan to let that happen.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized after the fact that one plot point in the last chapter was subconsciously taken from the TV show Ashes to Ashes. So, yay, Ashes to Ashes!

Annika slept. She dreamt of people she had known over the years; most of them were fleeting. She hadn’t let herself get close to anyone for a very long time.

Ever since…

_“If you want to act like a little slut, then you can get the hell out of my house!”_

_The sound of the door slamming. They were coming._

_She was coming after her._

_She’d have to start running, and soon, and she could never ever stop._

_There was the sound of boots, too. He was coming, too. They both were._

_And she was never going to get away, ever, ever._

Annika burst out of bed, screaming. 

The man – Caleb – appeared at her side, and she wondered if he had been staying close, waiting to see – to see what? If she lived or died, or if… if something else? What use she could be, maybe? 

But there was a tiny tug-tug-tug in her brain when she remembered the gentleness with which he had tended to her wounds, with which he had stitched her.

“Hi,” she managed softly. 

“You’re awake,” he told her, and she nodded, slowly. Her head hurt, but she figured that was to be expected. She had been through a lot. Even though she had just woken up, she felt so tired.

“It hurts,” she said, even as she thought that it was a stupid thing to say – why was she showing weakness now? Then again, what choice did she have? She was at this man’s mercy; she had to show him something, and weakness was about all she had at her disposal right about now. 

“I’m sorry,” Caleb replied. “I wish we had more medicine up here… but we only have the first aid kit. And the alcohol. Do you think you’re up to walking around at all? It might help get your mind off things.”

“I’m not sure,” Annika admitted, sitting up more and letting one foot hang off of the cot. “Where is this place, anyway?” 

She let her foot touch the floor and reluctantly jumped off. Her wounds gave a little yowl of protest, but she didn’t cry out. Maybe she was already beginning to heal – maybe she wasn’t a goner just yet.

Caleb reached out his arms and placed them on Annika’s waist, steadying her.

“Be careful,” he said, and she shivered under his touch. It was hard to get away from the feeling that she was being watched, that this was all a plot and Bob Paris was behind it somehow.

But this man seemed the exact opposite of Bob. Bob had been evil, surely – but he had also been classy, refined, rich in taste.

Caleb was wearing a torn leather jacket and as Annika looked down, she saw that his fingers were covered in dirt. No, not one of Bob’s. But did that make him safe, though?

Annika reached up and let her arm hook on to Caleb’s. She let out a tiny sigh. 

“I feel so tired…”

“A gunshot wound will do that to you. Trust me, I know. You’ll need to take it easy. Then once the storm lets up, I’ll get you to a real doctor.”

She smiled sheepishly.

“You seem to have done pretty decent. I thought I was going to die…”

“I thought you were, too. But… I guess they say ‘do or die’, and we did… It was mainly you, too. I mean, you fought. You hung in there. I’m babbling.”

Annika smiled.

“I… It’s kind of nice, actually. You just seem… I’m starting to feel safe with you, and I thought I was never going to feel safe with anyone again.”

She shut her eyes – so tired – and she was back again, sixteen, running in the night. The grass had been so wet under her feet that she’d been slipping, and her pants were a little too long and they were bunched up at her heels and getting caught under her shoes. She kept slipping…

“Are you all right?”

Annika let her eyes find Caleb’s. So big and blue. There was a sad sort of look in them. 

“So what’s your story?” she asked, “I guess you know mine. Part of it, at least.” She reached down to her skirt and found the flash drive tucked beneath it. “Where can I keep this that’s safe, by the way?” She pulled it open, finding it covered in blood, and blinked, almost ready to faint again. Her legs felt weak.

Caleb caught her and set her back on the bed. 

“I’ll put it…” He took the flash drive from her and she watched him set it on a counter. 

“You should hide it.”

“I’ll do that in a bit. You wanted to hear my story, you said?”

She smiled shyly. 

“Yeah.”

“I’m… not a good person. I’ve always been in trouble. I take any dirty job that people will give me… at least, I did. Now… I’m trying to turn over a new leaf and be a better person. But I’ve done things that I don’t think can be undone.” He paused, and for a moment, Annika thought that would be the end of it. Then he spoke up, “I was in love once. I hurt her. Now I’m back to try and… Do something better.”

“I know… That. I think.”

Running and hiding and… there was a car coming down the road, and she was getting into it. She was breathing hard, and there were tears in her eyes, and she had told herself that she was never going to cry ever again.

She swallowed and told him, “You are doing good. You are good. There’s… there’s nothing that can’t be undone.” 

He offered his hand to her again, and this time she took it with more confidence.

“Let’s heat some food up,” he suggested, and she nodded. “What would you like?”

“Anything, really. Soup or… I mean, whatever you have.”

“I’m not very good at cooking, but I think soup’s a possibility.”

As they walked together, she felt tears in her eyes again.


	4. Chapter 4

Caleb had never been particularly good at cooking. In their tiny family unit, it had always been Norma who had figured out how to make things from scratch, what to heat and what things to put together to make something better.

Caleb had been hopeless at the whole concept. Norma had used to chuckle about it, but she’d politely eaten what Caleb made whenever it was his turn up to bat.

Now, he located a metal pot and started up the fire, setting it on top and tossing in a can of chicken noodle soup he’d found in one of the cabinets.

Hopefully, she would like it.

Everything about this situation was making him feel uneasy. He couldn’t stop thinking about a movie he and Norma had seen as kids, an old black and white movie called _The Collector_. It had been about a man who won the lottery and kidnapped the girl of his dreams, trying desperately to get her to fall in love with him and refusing to understand her distress.

He wouldn’t be like that. Annika wouldn’t be a butterfly tacked to a board to be looked at. He would give her room to spread her wings until she was safe enough to fly away.

“Here, take a seat,” he said, pulling over Dylan’s crappy ottoman. He wondered where his son had gotten it from – it looked like even something from IKEA would far outclass it. He needed to get the kid some new furniture, whether he wanted it or not. He could even make it from scratch.

Then he’d just have to make sure it appeared in the cabin before Dylan could say he didn’t want anything from Caleb. The same dance, over and over again. He wondered what Dylan would say if he knew that Annika was here. 

But Dylan was at Norma’s, he must be, and Caleb pushed away the ache at the thought of it, of them being together as a family without him there.

He would have to wait, if Norma was ever to forgive him. And he had to accept that that might never happen. He didn’t deserve it.

He heard the young woman mumble something, and he craned his head to try and hear it.

“What was that?” Caleb inquired.

“I think they killed her.”

Annika was looking down at her fingers, and her eyes looked lost. Sad. 

“Who?” he asked. If they, whoever they were, exactly – what had been the name Annika had said? Paris? – had shot her in the stomach with the intent to kill her, she likely wasn’t the first.

“Lindsay. My… friend, I guess. We worked together. She was nice. She… was the one who took the flash drive. She gave it to me to keep it safe.”

“And then they…?”

Caleb reverted to an old habit – he looked everywhere in the room except at Annika. He wondered what his face showed, if it was what it ought to. What should it ought to be – what was the appropriate response to the realization that some man was out there killing girls as easily as one would swat a mosquito? But he had seen enough of it. He had known men like this before.

“I think so. Her car was still there, but he wasn’t. I was trying to start her car but it wouldn’t start. So I just started running. That’s when you found me… I think, at least.”  
Caleb reached out and took Annika’s hands in his, feeling awkward, like he was in some touchy-feely seminar learning about how to read others emotions. 

“Annika,” he said. He forced himself to meet her eyes. “I’m sorry about your friend. I wish… there was something. But I can at least make sure nothing’s going to happen to you. I’m… I can protect you.” It sounded like bragging, but Caleb knew it to be true. He could protect anyone, would protect anyone he cared about. He could now. He would never again he the tiny, gawky child wishing that he could take his little sister by the hand and run away from it all.

She nodded, slowly, and Caleb let go before pulling a little table up in front of her.

“Chicken noodle soup okay?”

She nodded, gratefully, and Caleb flashed what he hoped was a winning smile and not a creepy one. 

He made his way into the tiny kitchen and washed out a metal pot before pulling open a can of soup and tossing it in.

He started up a fire in the old stove.

“So… tell me about yourself,” she spoke up quietly, and Caleb thought he had imagined it at first. 

Finally, he shook his head.

“You don’t want to know about me, really, there’s nothing to tell.” There was a lot to tell, of course, but it was mainly arrests and warrants, bar brawls and bad decisions.  
And Norma, who swirled in his head even now, even though he knew his chances of making it right with her were pretty much non-existent. He had blown it by showing up unannounced, and he’d blown it again by coming back here now when it was obvious he wasn’t wanted. 

Well, he was wanted, all right.

“If you say so.” Annika laughed for a moment, then put her hand on her stomach and winced.

“Hurts?” Caleb asked. The soup had boiled, but he was suddenly hit with the realization that he didn’t really have anything to put it in. He hadn’t exactly planned for company – he and Dylan usually ended up eating separately and drinking together, when he could get a hold of his son that was. “I… Are you all right eating out of this?” He felt embarrassed, a shot of shame floating through him. This was him, all right, forever apologizing for his home.

But she looked at him and smiled.

“Sure. Share it?”

She held out her hand. Caleb felt ready to burst into tears, like something inside him was breaking.

In some little way, he was wanted now.


	5. Chapter 5

Annika must have fallen back asleep at some point, but she didn’t really remember it. 

The next thing she knew, her eyes were opening to stare up at the cabin’s ceiling. What was she even doing here? Nothing made sense; how long was she supposed to hide out here, or be stranded here, or whatever she was doing here exactly? 

Caleb was kind, at least. He was feeding her and he’d been decent enough company. She figured it was better than having to hide out in a cabin on her own, carving open the last can of baked beans and hoping she didn’t have to eat somebody like she was in one of those disaster movies.

But regardless of the current circumstances, Bob Paris was still after her – that hadn’t changed. And until it did, she might as well be a sitting duck, not to mention Caleb as well, for helping her. 

Maybe she should get going as soon as possible; as soon as it wouldn’t be dangerous to travel through the snow. This couldn’t last for more than a day or so, could it? It was only the fall. But freak snow probably lasted a freak amount of time – it wasn’t as if Annika had paid a lot of attention back in Earth Science.

Her thought process was cut short by the sound of boots making their way into the room. Caleb again. He must have been watching over her, or at least checking back to make sure she wasn’t dead. It was odd to find that it wasn’t a creepy thought.

She rose up in her bed. Was it hers, now? Was that how long she would be in this place?

“Hey,” Caleb called, and Annika looked up at him shyly. 

He had power, didn’t he? This was his place, his home, and if she walked out, she walked out into the freezing cold.

Not that she hadn’t before; there had been men who had made her do it, too. The ones who were offended by something or other she had refused to do and had sent her packing, unpaid. 

“Hey.” She watched her feet hang over the cot as she pulled herself into a sitting position. Everything still ached, but at least she no longer thought she was going to cry – from the pain, at least. There was still the anxiety, the whole situation… the fear. The feeling of the snow crashing all around them, closing in and sucking them up into some kind of black hole made out of snow and ice.

But that had to mean that in a few ways, things were getting a little better.

“How are you feeling?”

“Alive.” 

“Always a plus,” he said with a sheepish grin. “I should probably start digging out the walk in case my son tries to come back. If he drove up here with it like this, he’d probably die.”

Annika furrowed her brow. She hadn’t expected this. This guy was some kind of drifter, definitely – how had he ended up with a kid, one he saw no less? Did he have some crazy one night stand, or had he been married once but had hit a rough turn in the road? It was the kind of thing she could ask clients… Maybe. If she knew them very well. 

“Your son?” she asked. “How old is he?”

Old enough to drive, Annika told herself. She couldn’t exactly pinpoint how old Caleb was supposed to be – he had a young face, but the way he held himself seemed like he had spent most of his years living with his body in some sort of hurricane. 

“Twenty-two,” he explained. “I didn’t meet him until last year. Didn’t even know I had a son.”

Annika couldn’t imagine it; not realizing you had a kid, for one, but then again, even having one was difficult to picture, at least with her life like this. 

That was someone who would have to rely on her. She’d always relied on herself. What else could she do? She’d never been able to rely on her parents, not even when she’d been tiny and trusting… 

Was she going to rely on this man? Would she have to? Or would she try to crawl away out in the snow and live to do it all again another day?

“How’d that happen?”

Caleb’s face curled into a small smile; he looked pained.

“I was young. It wasn’t… a good situation. I did things… I wasn’t a good man.”

“I think you’re a good man now.” She wasn’t sure why she said it, and she was even less sure about whether she believed it, about him or about anybody anymore. She was even less sure when she leaned forward slightly and put her hand on his shoulder. “I don’t care what you did before. You… you saved me, didn’t you?” She let her eyes flutter shut, the way she sometimes did when she needed to take a break from the world, needed to ground herself so it didn’t all fly away and out of her grasp.   
And then she let her mind turn off and let the pounding in her ears drive her closer to him, until she had pressed her lips over his and was covering them, protecting him now too.

His hand clasped around her neck, but gently – she could smell him and he reeked of sweat and wood. Her heart was pounding but she didn’t know why – was this fear, still? Or was it something else entirely?

She managed to catch her breath a moment and she let her eyes open.

His eyes were very, very blue, and now she felt faint.


	6. Chapter 6

As far as Caleb had been concerned, Norma would forever be the one and only love of his life. He had been seventeen years old when he had first seen her in that light – in the light, golden hair shining and beautiful blue eyes lighting up, and because of him to boot (sometimes, maybe, some days, he hoped).

Maybe he was just wishing for too much hoping to ever feel that way again. People didn’t get second chances, especially not people like him. He had broken every chance he had ever received, and with Norma most of all. 

Things had been simpler, once, when they’d both been young. Their lives had been so cold that anything they could grasp on to was the broken raft keeping them afloat. All they had needed was that look from the other, the gentle touch to get them both through the day.

And then reality had broken down their door, had torn them apart.  
Well, Caleb couldn’t really think of it exactly like that, if he was being fair. He should have known it was wrong, the things they were doing. She was so much younger than him, and… well, the other thing hadn’t really occurred to him. 

Of course, it wasn’t every day that people fell in love with their sisters… But how many people had sisters like Norma Louise?

He shook his head. That wasn’t what he should be thinking about, now. 

Now, there was Annika. She had eyes that made him want to cry a little, and soft hair he wanted to run his fingers through.

She wasn’t Norma… but that was all right.

What wasn’t as all right was that she needed him. She was still injured, and she would have to stay here… how long? Caleb didn’t know quite yet.

She was sleeping again, now, tuckered out like a cat after a long day of running around. Her head was pulled in protectively in a way that made Caleb’s heart hurt. Who had been cruel to this girl before, and what was he supposed to do to be different than whoever had come before?

He wasn’t exactly known for making the right decisions. Also, how was he going to explain any of this to Dylan when his son returned, after the snowstorm had ended? 

“Yes, Dylan, I just found this woman, can I please keep her?”

What would he say? What could he say? It wasn’t even as if Dylan had grown up with his parents together and now had to adapt to them falling for other people – it was so much more complicated than that. Caleb had put them all in this position, and he had done it a long time ago. There was no going back, no hope for a “normal life” (whatever that really meant) for any of them.

And yet… Looking at Annika, he wanted it. 

But did she want anything to do with him? Probably not, if she found out the truth. And it wasn’t as if he could continue with this and just never tell her. He hadn’t told Dylan, and look how that had turned out – and Dylan was his blood. 

If Annika found out from someone else, she would run for the hills. And could Caleb really blame her?

She was fast asleep on the cot again. She looked so innocent when she slept, like she should be outside in the snow instead of in here with him. But the snow was a killer, and it was safe in here – wasn’t it? Safe from Bob Paris, at least. Did she need to be safe from him, too?

Caleb had always justified the things he had done; he had always found a reason for it. Ever since he had come to White Pine Bay and met Dylan, it wasn’t that easy. The things he had done, what he had made Norma go through… Listening to Dylan tell him that had made his heart crunch like a broken bone. It had come rushing through him.

If he could only tell her… But maybe Dylan was right, maybe it would have been better to just stay away from them all. Why had he really come back?

“Caleb?” he shook his head to get out of his thoughts as he heard her voice. “I’m thirsty.”

He went to get her a bottle of water (thankfully, Dylan had had the forethought to stock up on it and other essentials), lingering on his return.

Should he say something, and if so, what? What could he say to make any of it all right?

All of the hurt had been before Annika. He could get a fresh start with her, he could become a whole new Caleb.

Yeah, he was dreaming all right. It couldn’t happen. 

“Hey,” he said as he handed her the water. “How are you feeling? Any better?”

She nodded.

“I still feel tired… but not as faint. You’ve been helping a lot. I’m sorry to… impose. I can definitely pay you once I get back to the motel and get my things.”

“The motel?” Caleb asked, stopping in his tracks. What was the possibility that she meant… after all, there was more than one motel around. Probably not more than two, however, so the odds were pretty good that she…

“The Bates Motel. I hope she still has my things since I haven’t been back. I hate when people put them out on the curb if you don’t pay, but I mean… I get it.”

“…The Bates Motel?”

“Yeah? What about it?” Annika narrowed her eyes at him; he could see that she was becoming suspicious again. The best thing would be to tell her the truth – lying had gotten him in enough trouble since he had arrived in White Pine Bay.

“I… My sister owns that motel, actually. She runs it with my nephew.”

“Seriously? You’re Norma Bates’… brother? She didn’t mention she had a brother. I mean… Not that we really talked that much. Do you think you can call her once the storm lifts so I can get my things?”

Caleb could have told her the whole, sad story.

But instead he said, “Sure, I will.”


	7. Chapter 7

Annika knew that it would be silly if she felt something for this guy. After all, he basically had “bad news” written all over him. She knew the type; dressed in layers, as if they weren’t planning to stay in any one place long – long enough to get caught, that was. 

This guy probably paid all of his bills in cash, or with credit cards with a host of other names on them. 

He was the kind of person she had always wanted to run away with when she was younger, and who she feared as she got older.

And here she was, in the spider’s lair. He was obvious hiding something; he was obviously hiding a lot of things, in fact.

She didn’t have a whole lot of other options, though. And he had saved her life. And he knew Norma at the motel – maybe that meant he wasn’t all bad. Maybe that meant he had… roots. Maybe having a sister meant that… well, good luck following that train of thought. Most of the men who had been with her probably had sisters, mothers, and daughters. It hadn’t stopped the worst of them from doing the worst of the things they did.

But she wouldn’t think about that now. Caleb didn’t seem to want to hurt her. 

She kept cycling back to that, like it was some sort of mantra. If she walked outside, the snow would hurt her. It would trap her, freeze her in, stop her from escaping.

It was Caleb or bust. He may be her only hope. 

Part of her felt as nervous as the night she had first begun this job. The anticipation, shivery fear and panicked wonder. For some reason, Caleb made her feel… He made her feel.

Maybe it was the odd, wide-eyed innocence paired with the huge, muscular arms and dangerous aura. There was a contradiction there that she didn’t entirely understand, and maybe that was it. She felt a little better when she thought of it like that, a little less crazy because maybe that meant that she hadn’t fallen into a trap. Into another trap, that was. The decision to work for Bob Paris… 

That had been the decision that had nearly ended her. 

Maybe she should just avoid taking her own word for anything, and should go ahead and do the exact opposite of anything she might have planned otherwise.

She kicked her feet over the cot again and stepped out. In the interest of doing the opposite, she decided to seek out Caleb.

***

He was sitting by the fire, rocking in a chair and looking into the flames. He seemed very far away, this odd man who had rescued her in a snowstorm. Who was he, really?

“Hey,” Annika called, and he turned his head. There was something in his eyes for a moment – confusion, maybe, or wistfulness, she wasn’t quite sure.

And she was even less sure exactly what made her do what she did next.

She had walked over, behind him, and laid a hand on his shoulder. He kept his head turned, perfectly aligned, and she leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. 

He froze for a moment, and she wondered if she had gotten it all horribly wrong, somehow. Maybe this was the mistake that broke everything.

Her stomach still ached. 

“Annika,” Caleb whispered, putting his hand on her hip. “You’re tired… You should probably get some rest.”

“I don’t want to rest.” She leaned in and breathed against his ear; men liked this, usually, the soft and seductive kind of way. “I want to be here with you…” She didn’t know what she hoped to gain. Maybe it was bringing him back to a playing field where she understood the rules.

Caleb looked at her for a long time, then, and she almost thought he would push her away. Maybe he thought she was disgusting; maybe he’d wanted her to be… pure, or something. She was the kind of woman that men liked to think were disposable…

What kind of man was Caleb?

“Annika,” he said, quietly, reaching out to cup her chin. “I’m not… a good person. You’re a good person… You shouldn’t.”

“I’m not.”

She didn’t know where the words came from, and she hated them as soon as they left her mouth. She was becoming a cliché by the second. What was the next broken, stupid thing she could sputter out?

Hadn’t she come over here to kiss him, to ride him, to feel something again? 

“I’m not,” she said again, with more conviction. “And I don’t care if you are or not. I just want to feel something…” She put a hand down where the stitches seemed to divide her stomach into two. “I’m here with you… and I want to feel something other than being torn up.”

Caleb seemed to think about it for a very long time before he breathed out and gave a tiny nod.

“I don’t want to hurt you, though. Let’s get on the bed.”

When they had made the journey over, she laid across the bed spread and let out a soft hum. He was smiling down at her, and suddenly she felt safe. Maybe she shouldn’t; maybe it was all a mistake. But she let herself relax for the first time in as long as she could remember.

Caleb’s fingertips brushed against her stomach as he pulled off her shirt, and they tickled. She let out a giggle and reached out, cupping his face in her hands. 

He leaned in and kissed her, long and gentle. He unbuttoned her pants and carefully pulled them down; he didn’t break her gaze.

“Let me know if any of this hurts, okay?” he told her.

And Annika let him slip inside. 

It felt safe, and sweet, and secure.

She still didn’t know him… but maybe she could trust him. 

Maybe, just maybe.


	8. Chapter 8

Caleb looked out the window at the fallen snow. It brought him back to Christmas, when he and Norma had been children together, eyes wide and still filled with wonder even though they already knew how terrifying the world could be.

How terrifying the world already was.

He wanted to step out into it, to fade away into the pure, blissful white. To shut his eyes forever. 

But he couldn’t. Not until he reconciled with Norma. Not until he apologized, and she heard him. Until she knew…

Knew what, exactly? He wasn’t sure. Knew that he hadn’t meant it? But he had, at the time. He had meant anything that could bring her back to him, that could stop her from leaving.

Was he still that same person? The one who could selfishly throw it all out the window to keep someone close? Was that was he was doing now, with Annika? Maybe he was keeping her here for his own needs, all over again. Maybe the snow wasn’t blocking them at all, really. 

Maybe he was evil all over again.

He wasn’t someone who should be trusted with anything good and innocent. Hell, he had been corrupting Dylan by even being in town in the first place. He was a constant reminder hanging over his son’s head of sins that Caleb had committed long before Dylan’s birth.

He should have stayed away; he should have stayed in Costa Rica, where no one knew the things that he had done. There, he was just another American who had headed South for the winter and ended up staying. There, he had a strange sort of pull due to just being different somehow, due to being foreign.

But he had always been different. He had always been the last one to pick up on the joke that everyone seemed to have been born knowing the punchline to. He had always been the one who flagged behind the others, who didn’t seem to be good at anything.

But he was good with his hands; that much had always been true. He could build with them, he could protect with them, and of course, if need be, he could kill with them. 

He could remember holding the door to their bedroom shut, could remember slamming his entire body up against it. Could remember the day when he realized that he was almost – always only almost – bigger than his father.

But instead of waiting for that day, he had left. Because Norma had left, too, and there was no use sticking around if Norma Louise was not there for him to protect, for him to love, for him to yearn after and look after for the rest of his days. Without her, there had been no point, and he had simply been adrift. 

He had jumped on the back of a train and he had left for the West Coast, and had never stopped taking off since then. 

It was almost as if he had an allergy to staying in the same place. Being in one place made him jittery, nervous, as if he was going to end up peeling off his own skin and having to look at what was really underneath, and he couldn’t, he couldn’t. He hadn’t been able to face what he had done to Norma Louise.

And that was, forever, his own fault. He knew that now. To look in a mirror, to truly realize the thing he had done… it was terrifying, but it was necessary.   
It meant that he had to be a whole new Caleb. What that Caleb look like, what he did, who he was – those parts he didn’t know, not yet. But… maybe it had something to do with the sleeping woman in this cabin. Maybe he had some kind of mission with her, some kind of heavenly duty that he just didn’t quite realize yet.

Or maybe he was fooling himself all over again because the new Caleb was the same as the old one. Unpredictable, untethered, a ball of rage without rhyme or reason who only went out to get what he wanted.

He had to hope that wasn’t true. Had to hope that this girl could be some kind of salvation for him, if only for minutes or hours.

He peeked over at her again, curled in on herself as if the outside world was going to crush her beneath spikes. She was a scared girl, a pretty girl, one who had seen more than she should have and been burned too many times. 

Could she trust him, ever? Should she, in fact? And what could he (or should he) do to make that happen?

It was far too many questions and not nearly enough answers, and it would be too much to figure out tonight. And maybe, tonight… Maybe he just wanted to be near her. To be around beauty.

“Annika,” he called quietly, watching as she stirred and slowly opened her eyes, looking back at him with a kind of measured, suspicious innocence. 

“How long are we going to be here?” she asked, and he wondered at the use of “we”. When had they become some kind of a team?

“Until the snow clears… But it looks like it’s melting already.” Caleb as not looking out the window, but did he need to be? The truth was in the passage of time, They couldn’t stay here suspended, forever. They had to move on eventually. “I’ll get you moved by tomorrow morning. And then… we can figure out where you need to be from there.” It sounded callous, and he let it. No need to be ruled by emotions, now… No need to want something that he would never, ever have for good reason, more than one good reason. 

“I’ll probably have to leave town,” Annika murmured. “I’ll have a target on my back.”

And then he would never see her again.

Maybe that would be how he would set her free in the end.


	9. Chapter Nine

“Snow seems to be slowing down.” Caleb said the words quietly, knowing they were all that was needed to break the spell. When the snow melted, when the roads were clear, he would bring Annika to safety and this would all be over. Dylan would come back, and Caleb would try to decide what to do about Norma at the end of everything. What had he come back for? He could have stayed in Costa Rica and continued his solitary life, legs hanging over the edge of the pool and sunning himself, smiling at tourists he would never see again after a week or two. Life had been easy then, and he hadn’t had to think about what he could have been and what he had done.

“Yeah, it is… Freak snowstorm… Only in Oregon, I guess. Maybe I should have stayed back in California.”

Caleb smiled wryly.

“I probably would have. I do a lot better in sun and sand than ice and rain. I used to live in Costa Rica.”

“That’s supposed to be paradise, isn’t it? What brought you back here?”

“My sister,” he said, then paused, “And my son. It’s… complicated.”

The snow was melting. He figured he might as well tell her – she would be running away soon anyway. 

She sat on the cot and listened.

She did not run away.

***

She kissed him and threaded her hands behind his head, warm and gentle and soothing. Tears were flowing from his eyes, but she did not say anything as she stripped off his shirt and sat down on him, ran her hands over his skin and made it feel like little bits of skin were flaring up, pulling into the touch.

It had been so long since anyone had touched him, like this or in any way, really. He was a man who stayed away from physical contact – it was a dangerous thing to try to initiate. What if he lost it? What if, somehow, he hurt her too, the way he’d hurt Norma, the way Annika had been hurt before?

Better to run away, to take off back to Costa Rica and hide away from everyone.

He couldn’t, though, not now, because her lips tasted sweet and he was sure that if he pulled away, he would never touch another human being as long as he lived.

He touched her hair; it was soft and silky and that was odd because it was so damned cold and dirty in this cabin; she was untouched by all the grime of the world somehow. 

Locking his hand behind her shoulder, he guided himself inside her, quiet and careful. 

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, and he wasn’t entirely sure why. Maybe he had to tell himself this, had to let himself know that in this moment, they were together.

“I know.” She kissed him again and everything was warm and hot between them. Caleb thought that he would break down crying and never, ever stop.

***

There was a knock on the door then next morning, and before waiting for an answer Dylan Massett burst through the front door.

“Caleb? Caleb, you in here? Are you okay?” 

Annika walked over first, watching Dylan with a curious eye. 

“Hello?” She glanced from Caleb to Dylan and then back again. 

“Hello?” Dylan replied, seemingly just as confused as she was. 

“Dylan… This is… Annika.” Caleb smiled sheepishly. “She’s been… staying here for a little bit. I hope that’s okay… it was kind of an emergency.”

Dylan scratched his head.

“Wait… Is your name Annika Johnson?”

Annika looked back and forth between the two, then over at Caleb again.

“It’s okay. He’s my son… He’s safe.”

Dylan flinched slightly, the way he always did when Caleb referred to him that way. Maybe Caleb should stop doing it – but here, when it was safe to… One of the only places where it was still safe to acknowledge who he was, it was hard to stop. 

“He looks like you,” Annika told Caleb, and then she paused. “Yes. That’s me… Are… people looking for me?”

“My mom was looking for you. You stayed at her hotel but you vanished, and all of your stuff is still there. She was afraid that something happened to you.”

“Something did,” Caleb cut in somberly. “She was shot by someone… I just happened to find her.”

“Why didn’t you bring her to a hospital?” Dylan asked, narrowing his eyes at his father. 

“The blizzard,” Caleb explained, “It was too dangerous…” He paused, wondering if part of him had used that as an excuse somehow. “I patched her up… she… it was pretty bad. But she’s better now.”

“You patched up a gun shot?” Dylan asked, “You just… patched it up like someone cut their finger?”

“It was the only thing I could do…”

“Shit, Caleb… Seriously?” Dylan let out a long sigh. “We need to get you to a hospital, Annika. I hope you’re going to be all right. Sorry that my father is a complete idiot. She could have died, Caleb!”

“I did what I could, Dylan,” Caleb fired back.

“I’m fine,” Annika spoke up, “And you can stop talking about me like I’m not here. Caleb took care of me.” She looked up and him and then let out a sigh. “And he doesn’t need to anymore. I can take care of myself. That’s what I’ve been doing my entire life.”

“You could stay,” Caleb offered quietly, knowing what she would say. 

“And do what?” she asked, “And be what?” She looked between them and brushed some dirt from her collar. “You two have each other, and you clearly love each other. So, tell each other that more often… It helps to know. Trust me.”

“What will you do, though?” Caleb asked. “You’ll just… go back? Find someone else to work for? Another Bob Parris?”

“That’s the way it works for girls like me,” Annika replied with a sad smile. “Here one day, moving on the next. But I’ll remember you.” She leaned up and pressed a kiss to Caleb’s lips, then looked at Dylan. “Could you give me a ride to the airport?”

They both vanished into the snow, then, with Caleb standing behind in the cabin. He didn’t call her name as she left, but he eventually settled back on the cot and rolled over into bed. 

That was the way life was for men like him, too.


End file.
